Sojourners Seeking a Better Future

The first Filipinos to settle in what is now the United States, came on Spanish galleons in the 1700s, but the major wave of immigration began after the United States took possession of the Philippines after the Spanish-American War (1898) and suppressed Philippine independence (1899-1902). During the period of US colonialism, teachers told young Filipinos that they were Americans, presenting them with an idealized vision of the American Dream. Limited economic opportunities and poverty due to economic underdevelopment forced immigrants to leave to pursue a better future: For centuries, the Philippines had been the colonial possession of Spain and the unequal social and economic relationship continued under U.S. rule. These factors helped inspire the second major wave of immigrants, beginning in 1906.

This group was composed of different segments representing a cross section of class backgrounds, but the majority were single working class men. Smaller numbers were married and brought spouses or extended families, another small number were working class women, another portion were young male and female students, their educations subsidized by the Philippines government; others were students from prosperous families who funded their educations. Immigration continued throughout the 1920s and 1930s. By 1930, 110,000 Filipinos had come to Hawai'i and 40,000 to the U.S. mainland—mainly to California, Oregon, and Washington.

The Filipinos of this generation were part of several major waves of workers to come from Asia to work in the American West. Under U.S. rule, Filipinos were considered U.S. "nationals"—and were exempt from United States laws that excluded previous waves of immigrants from Asia like Chinese and Japanese workers. Like generations of workers in the American West before them, the majority of Filipino immigrants worked in manual or migratory labor jobs, many in extractive industries such as agriculture and canning. Most working class immigrant Filipinos worked in domestic jobs or in agricultural or cannery labor on a seasonal migratory labor circuit that spanned the West Coast--from California to Oregon, Washington, and Alaska.

Filipino Alaskeros (so called for the geographical location of their work) first came to Alaskan canneries in 1911. In the 1920s, exclusionary immigration laws went into effect that targeted other groups of Asian immigrants. Filipinos began to replace Japanese workers, who had previously replaced Chinese workers in the canneries. Initially, workers were recruited through labor contractors who were paid to provide a work crew for the summer canning season. The contractor, in turn, paid workers wages and other expenses. However, this system led to many abuses, corruption, and harsh working conditions that give impetus to the drive toward unionization. This system often required bribery to get jobs and involved favoritism, facilitating exploitation of workers at the hands of labor contractors and employers alike.

These hopeful sojourners were confronted with a social and economic climate characterized by often-hostile European American citizens who used violence to intimidate immigrants, minorities, and unionizing workers. Local police and laws systematically discriminated against Filipinos and other minorities. Employers kept the workforce divided ethnically and thwarted unionization attempts to keep wages low and themselves in absolute control over the workplace. The labor system was racially hierarchical and ethnically segmented; white laborers occupied the top rung of the hierarchy; minority workers endured the harshest obstacles and the most exploitative working conditions. The situation was complicated and worsened by the Great Depression (1929), which flooded the market with unemployed workers--citizen and noncitizen alike--competing for the same jobs.

As a direct reaction to these conditions, Filipino workers organized to protect themselves and improve working conditions and raise wages by forming labor unions and mutual aid societies on the West Coast. The Filipino Labor Union was formed by Filipino cannery workers in Seattle in 1933. Soon it changed its name to the Cannery Workers' and Farm Laborers' Union, Local 18257—part of the American Federation of Labor. One of the first goals of the union was to do away with the labor contractor system and to organize the workers in the cannery and agriculture industries to bargain collectively with their employers to improve wages and improve working conditions.

Items in the PDF below include the 1) Immigration Record for the S.S. President Taft Documenting Carlos Bulosan's Arrival in the Port of Seattle, June 13, 1930; 2) Stockton City Directory page suggesting that Bulosan lived there in 1942 and worked as a field representative for American Philippine Foundation, Inc.; 3) The Seattle Times front page editorial published on June 15, 1930 - two days after Bulosan's arrival describing Filipino migrants as a "problem", illustrating the racism and hostility Bulosan would face in the United States; and 4) A close up image of the editorial piece.